1934–35 NHL season

The 1934–35 NHL season was the 18th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nine teams each played 48 games. The Montreal Maroons were the Stanley Cup winners as they swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in three games in the final series.

League business

With financial difficulties continuing for the Ottawa Senators, the franchise was transferred to St. Louis changing the nickname to St. Louis Eagles. The Senators name was continued as a senior amateur team. The NHL franchise was not profitable in St. Louis, either, partly due to the extended travel of being located in the Canadian Division. The Eagles would sell players Syd Howe and Ralph "Scotty" Bowman to Detroit for $50,000 to make ends meet.

Montreal Canadiens owners Leo Dandurand and Joseph Cattarinich would sell the team to Ernest Savard and Maurice Forget of the Canadian Arena Company.

Regular season

Charlie Conacher decided to play coy this year and Conn Smythe had trouble signing him. With Harvey Jackson out, it looked as though only Joe Primeau would be the only member of the Kid line in action for Toronto. However, he did finally sign. Conacher respondedwith his best season, scoring 36 goals and leading the league in scoring.

A bombshell trade was made with Howie Morenz, Lorne Chabot, and Marty Burke going to Chicago for Leroy Goldsworthy, Roger Jenkins, and Lionel Conacher. The Canadiens then traded Lionel Conacher and Herb Cain to the Maroons for Nels Crutchfield. The trades did not help and the Canadiens lost some fans.

Meanwhile, Tommy Gorman bought a share of the Montreal Maroons from James Strachan and when he picked up Alex Connell, he had another winner. Although Morenz wasn't his old self, he did help Chicago, who finished second in the American Division, just falling short of Boston by only one point.

The playoffs continued to elude the New York Americans, but they added two important additions, left wing Dave "Sweeney" Schriner and right wing Lorne Carr. Teamed with centre Art Chapman, the Americans were on the way up.

Final standings

"Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes"
"Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold"

tanley Cup playoffs

The most pulsating series was that of Chicago and the Montreal Maroons. Chicago coach Clem Loughlin said that the team who won the series very likely would win the Stanley Cup. Neither team scored after two regulation games. In the overtime, Dave Trottier was cut and retired for stitches. He'd hardly arrived in the dressing room when Baldy Northcott scored the goal that won the series for the Maroons.

Toronto's goaltender George Hainsworth got hot and eliminated the Bruins, while the Rangers outlasted the Montreal Canadiens on Bill Cook's goal in the deciding game. He'd been knocked goofy by the Canadiens Nels Crutchfield, but wasn't too groggy to win the series for the Rangers. George Hainsworth continued hot and the Leafs beat the Bruins to advance to the finals.

Finals

The Montreal Maroons throttled the Kid line of Primeau, Jackson and Conacher and goaltender Alex Connell time and again foiled sure goals for Toronto, and the Maroons won the series 3 games to none, and as game three ended, the crowd let out a roar of approval and Connell leaned back on the crossbar and cried. All of the Maroons' games ended in ties or victories, making them the last team until the 1951–52 Detroit Red Wings to not lose a single game during the playoffs. The Maroons were also the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers won it in 1974.

:"see 1935 Stanley Cup Finals"

Playoff bracket

3RoundBracket-Byes
RD1-seed5=C2
RD1-team5=Montreal Maroons
RD1-score5=1G
RD1-seed6=A2
RD1-team6=Chicago Black Hawks
RD1-score6=0G
RD1-seed7=C3
RD1-team7=Montreal Canadiens
RD1-score7=5G
RD1-seed8=A3
RD1-team8=New York Rangers
RD1-score8=6G
RD2-seed1=C1
RD2-team1=Toronto Maple Leafs
RD2-score1=3
RD2-seed2=A1
RD2-team2=Boston Bruins
RD2-score2=1
RD2-seed3=C2
RD2-team3=Montreal Maroons
RD2-score3=5G
RD2-seed4=A3
RD2-team4=New York Rangers
RD2-score4=4G
RD3-seed1=C1
RD3-team1=Toronto Maple Leafs
RD3-score1=0
RD3-seed2=C2
RD3-team2=Montreal Maroons
RD3-score2=3

NHL awards

All-Star teams

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1934–35 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
*Tommy Anderson, Detroit Red Wings
*Bucko McDonald, Detroit Red Wings
*Sweeney Schriner, New York Americans
*Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers
*Toe Blake, Montreal Maroons
*Bill Cowley, St. Louis Eagles
*Art Jackson, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Bob Davidson, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Nick Metz, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1934–35 (listed with their last team):
*John Ross Roach, Detroit Red Wings
*Albert Leduc, Montreal Canadiens
*Alex Smith, New York Americans
*Charley McVeigh, New York Americans
*Normie Himes, New York Americans

ee also

*List of Stanley Cup champions
*1934 in sports
*1935 in sports

References

* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/nhl1927.html Hockey Database]
* [http://nhl.com/ NHL.com]